Another place we haven’t much blogged about is the Solomon Islands. So I poked around a little and found this link to a very nice scuba trip report from the Solomon Islands. The site here is a pretty good one if you’re heading out soon on a trip and want to get the skinny on a particular dive spot. The posts are recent and can be nicely detailed, like this one from Cozumel, or this one from Indonesia with great photos.
Shark Hits Surfski
Here’s a rather gnarly story including everyone’s favorite predator :sharks. In this case, rather than your usual fare of a surfer or skin diver getting gnashed by a Great White,this time we have a shark going after a guy on a surf ski. It took place a few Friday’s ago when a couple of surf ski dudes were out in the water. There were some five or so surf skis in the water and people watched as a Great White struck Lyle Maasdorp’s surfski, lifting it out of the water. But he stayed on, fortunately for him, and the sharks amazingly went away. You can read the story and see great photos here.
Caribbean Islands & Hurricane Season 101
With storms brewing and the weather being all out-of-wack these days, it’s easy for a traveler eyeing the Caribbean to look the other way. I myself have been guilty at one point in assuming all the islands were doomed during the months long season of torrential rains, lightning and overall horrific T-storms, but such is not always the case. The Miami Herald has a nice little write-up on the Dutch-flavored Caribbean island of Curacao, which hasn’t been hit head-on by a hurricane since 1877. While Curacao is the featured island of the piece there are two others, Aruba & Bonaire, that clump the three into what can be called the ABC’s of hurricane season since ill-winds rarely grace any of them during the time.
For Curacao, there are many reasons to visit aside from escaping the storms that plague other nearby islands. Beaches are almost a given and there is tons of diving for the underwater fanatic. The author of the piece also explores the hip side of Curacao and describes the Museum Kura Hulanda in downtown Willemstad, the Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue, and a classy outdoor music venue at the Avila Beach Hotel.
Sounds like a good place to go to me. Avoid the rain-pelted beaches by traveling to Curacao this season! I wish I could. Um, yeah!
Cheng White Shark Photos
Gadling fans who like to dive…or those who even just like big angry fish with huge flesh-ripping teeth…I have a BIG surprise for you. Eric Cheng of Eric Cheng fame and Wetpixel fame has outdone himself this time. Now, it’s been way too long since we linked to Eric.
I have no excuse, really. I’ve been focused on other things like paddling and haven’t done a food diving post in a while. But Eric recently told me to check out a series of his photos of a Great White Shark and, well, I don’t want to have to describe these.
I ask you, no I beseech you, check them out for yourself. Yes, do yourself a mighty favor and head to this link now for some very cool photos. You won’t be sorry.
(And no, this is not our Photo of the Day…it’s far too good for that and I figured deserved its own post. POTD will be coming shortly.)
Dangerous Squid
I wrote a little bit yesterday about sharks and some of the programming that’s out there. The program Ocean Adventures with Jean Michel Cousteau takes a sensible and scientific look at sharks, and shows how beautiful and interesting they are. How worthy of protection. Then there is the squid. Not just any squid, not even the GIANT squid. This is a piece about the Humboldt Squid which, if the story here on Outside is to be believed, can kill you. I thought a lot o the writing here was hype, but I have to admit I really enjoyed the piece. The Humboldt Squid lives in the warm waters of Mexico, and is an aggressive little bugger. Now, whether they will grab you by the head as a gang and then pull you to the depths to devour your flesh, well, that’s a bit harder to believe, but the article here makes fine reading.